H.B. No. 2187
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to coordination between The University of Texas at Tyler
1-3 and other institutions of higher education.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 76.02, Education Code, is amended to read
1-6 as follows:
1-7 Sec. 76.02. ROLE AND SCOPE. (a) Except as otherwise
1-8 provided in this section, the <The> institution shall offer junior
1-9 and senior undergraduate programs and graduate programs, both of
1-10 which are subject to the authority of the Coordinating Board, Texas
1-11 College and University System.
1-12 (b) If the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
1-13 approves an engineering degree program at the institution, the
1-14 institution may offer lower division courses relating to that
1-15 program if such courses are offered as part of a partnership
1-16 agreement entered into under Subchapter N, Chapter 51 of this code.
1-17 SECTION 2. Section 76.05, Education Code, is amended to read
1-18 as follows:
1-19 Sec. 76.05. GIFTS AND GRANTS. (a) The board may accept
1-20 donations, gifts, and endowments for the institution. They are to
1-21 be held in trust and administered by the board according to the
1-22 purposes, directions, limitations, and provisions declared in
1-23 writing in the donation, gift, or endowment. The provisions of the
1-24 donation, gift, or endowment shall be followed to the extent that
2-1 they are not inconsistent with the laws of this state or with the
2-2 objective and proper management of the institution.
2-3 (b) The board shall solicit and may accept donations, gifts,
2-4 and endowments from private sources to provide equipment and other
2-5 personal property for the engineering degree program, if one is
2-6 established. The board shall establish an account for the deposit
2-7 of money accepted under this subsection. Money in the account may
2-8 be used only to provide and maintain equipment and other personal
2-9 property used by the engineering degree program.
2-10 SECTION 3. Chapter 76, Education Code, is amended by adding
2-11 Section 76.07 to read as follows:
2-12 Sec. 76.07. PARTNERSHIPS WITH JUNIOR COLLEGES AND OTHER
2-13 INSTITUTIONS. (a) The institution shall seek to build and expand
2-14 partnership agreements authorized by Subchapter N, Chapter 51 of
2-15 this code. With the approval of the Texas Higher Education
2-16 Coordinating Board, the institution may enter into a partnership
2-17 agreement with a private institution of higher education located in
2-18 the same county as any campus of the institution, subject to the
2-19 same provisions as provided by Subchapter N, Chapter 51, for a
2-20 partnership agreement between the institution and a public junior
2-21 college.
2-22 (b) In developing programs and courses subject to a
2-23 partnership agreement, the institution and any other party to an
2-24 agreement shall take into account the need in the service region to
2-25 recruit minority and lower-income students into degree-granting
2-26 programs of institutions of higher education.
2-27 (c) In deciding whether the institution may offer any lower
3-1 division courses pursuant to Section 76.02 of this code, the
3-2 institution and any other party to a partnership agreement shall
3-3 take into account, in addition to any other relevant factors, the
3-4 cost-effectiveness and other impact such courses will have on
3-5 students likely to enroll in the courses as well as any impact such
3-6 courses will have on the community as a whole.
3-7 (d) If the institution offers lower division courses, the
3-8 Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall adopt a formula
3-9 pursuant to its duties and powers under this code that applies the
3-10 formula for four-year general academic teaching institutions to all
3-11 lower division semester credit hours offered at the institution in
3-12 addition to any other formula funding that the institution might be
3-13 entitled to receive for upper division credit hours that it offers.
3-14 (e) A nonresident student who is simultaneously enrolled in
3-15 the institution and another public institution of higher education
3-16 under a program offered jointly by the two institutions under a
3-17 partnership agreement and who pays the fees and charges required of
3-18 Texas residents at one of the institutions as provided by Section
3-19 54.064 because the student holds a competitive scholarship is
3-20 entitled to pay the fees and charges required of Texas residents at
3-21 each public institution of higher education in which the student is
3-22 simultaneously enrolled under the program.
3-23 (f) The institution and other parties to a partnership
3-24 agreement may contract with any person to provide shuttle bus
3-25 service or other transportation service for or among the campuses
3-26 of the institutions that are parties to the agreement and may
3-27 charge and collect a fee from students registered in courses at the
4-1 campuses of two or more of the institutions in the same semester or
4-2 term in an amount determined by the institutions to pay for all or
4-3 part of the costs of that service.
4-4 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
4-5 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-6 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-7 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-8 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
4-9 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-10 passage, and it is so enacted.